with us now is jeff applegate. ff, w do you think that congress is going to be able to come through with a deal on this fiscal cliff? >> the political calculus, susie, is very simple. at the end of the day, the physicafis -- fiscal cliff threatens to dip the economy back into a depression. so we think that's what will drive a deal. >> susie: the fiscal cliff is in headlines every single day. it probably will continue like this for the next six weeks. how is all of that anxiety going to play outn e markets? >> you've already seen it play out since the election. global equities, actually, were down more than 2%. we didn't have a great day again today. so getting a positive resolution on the fiscal cliff is going to be important for the markets, but it is going to be volatile, and it will not be sorted out soon. so i think you should count on near-term possibly increased volatility in equity markets. >> susie: but you still think that the markets will be up for the year for 2012? >> we do. and that's the view that the